Pgh - the most livable city

To my own personal experience and absolute delight - Pittsburgh is rated as "the most livable city".

The nine subcategories mentioned are all that matters for me:

1. housing affordability (cost of living);
2. transportation;
3. jobs;
4. education;
5. climate;
6. crime;
7. health care;
8. recreation;
9. ambience (museums, performing arts, restaurants

Housing was very very cheap and hence, at times, I regret on my decision to move to NYC for work (my current employer offers the same pay in pgh and nyc). Crime rate is low in Pgh and hence, the insurance rates are low. UPMC provides healthcare right then and there.

Transportation is convenient if you have a car.
Jobs are good for those who have it. For those who are looking, it may not be the best market !

Well, as I've mentioned in an earlier post of mine, if I get tired of the city, I will move back to Pgh :)

Rendezvous with a Mayor!

Last night, at the PNC Park, I had an opportunity to meet the youngest Mayor in the United States Mr. Ravenstahl. He is young, dynamic, understands business terms and concepts well, and a visionary. He is fairly matured for his age and has the burning desire for turning around the City of Pittsburgh. Accordingly, he has taken steps at the micro-levels to work on converting the "Iron City" to a "Techno City". I wished him all the best in his endeavors when I met him and briefly introduced myself to him and where my origins are from (Mumbai).

After the Mayor's event followed the Network Pittsburgh event for Alumni networking. I met a few Deloitte folks out there and met some other interesting folks from the Heinz school who I had never met before. Nice event !

Post-networking meet, we went for the happy hour to Atria's to have some more meetings with the folks. Ron, our career services director, gave me compliment for being the "best dressed MISM" - so flattering ! Thank you Ron !

The travel back home was horrendous. My lips hurt due to the extreme cold weather in Pittsburgh. I didn't drive down to the event because I was planning on having some drinks. Hence, I had to use several connections of the bus routes to reach back home. One such link made me wait for half an hour and I think the temperature was -5 F. This coupled with the thin suit trousers sent shivers through my spine...literally ! It taught me a good lesson that I must never be out in the cold - no matter what my cold tolerance is.

ice skating

screeeeetch, whoooosh, whooop, THUD ...... are the sounds you easily get to listen at the ice rink if there is no music in the background. Yes, my first experience with ice-skating was yesterday evening. It reminded me of roller-blading days of 1995 !

Despite of few hurdles, a few MISM colleagues finally managed to reach the Schenley Park ice rink (on a lighter note, how many MISMs does it take to locate the rink ...LOL). While I was waiting at the rink, I saw quite a few kids doing nice maneuvers. As folks arrived and we tied our skates, we entered the rink with some apprehension. Some crashed at the beginning and some others as the time progressed.

Fortunately, I didn't fall in the first session. In the second session, in the last five minutes, I was stretching too far and my muscles had given up. I was unable to lift up my legs for the gliding action and hence, lost balance and fell. I crashed softly though and it was fun - no pains, no tears. The muscles of the lower back and the tendons of vastus medialis were screaming at me -

Manik Manik
Go away
Come again another day....
Little tendons want to lay !

When I learnt rollerblades, I had someone to teach me baby-steps with the skates on and then hold my hand for making a few rounds of the skating ring. I learnt faster that way. Yesterday was different as none of us were good at this though UD did well at the learning curve part - he was way ahead. However, I did have a bunch of folks who were constantly motivating me. Nah, not my colleagues, but a bunch of folks from UPitt who I met while tying up the shoes. Drea was one of them and she was half American and half Puerto Rican - very warm personality ! She was fascinated by Indian culture as well. I could never believe that she was skating for the first time because she was doing it so well!

All of us (MISMers) had decided that we shall have a look at the city from the point above the ice rink - however, that never happened ! A few other aspects ruined my mood towards the end of the event but that was fine - a part n parcel of this journey called life. After the skating event, I met some friends at Silkys and enjoyed some drinks with them for about a hour or more!

All in all, it was a good part of the weekend activity. Letsee whats lined up for today!